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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Prince's Bride

I did something that I probably will regret.I introduced my daughter to the story of "The Princess Bride".If you are not familiar with the story, I guess I might as well introduce it to you as well.A sick boy is told a story by his grandfather called the princess Bride. The princess Bride is the story of a young woman named Buttercup who lives on a farm in the fictional country of Florin, and seemingly lives to torment the "Farm boy".. Whenever she gives her farm boy Westley an order, he answers"as you wish"and happily complies. Eventually, she realizes he loves her and admits her love for him. Westley leaves to seek his fortune so they can marry, but his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who has a reputation for never leaving anyone alive.

Five years later, believing Westley dead, Buttercup reluctantly agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck ,heir to the throne of Florin. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by three outlaws and is relentlessly pursed and rescued by a mysterious man in black (Not Johnny Cash).Unknown to Buttercup, Prince Humperdinck actually hired the three outlaws to kidnap her and kill her, leaving her on the shores of Guilder, a rival country, in order to manufacture a war between the two countries.

The man in black catches up to the outlaws and rescues Buttercup. When he tells her he is Roberts, she becomes enraged at him for killing Westley but she realizes he is Westley himself when he replies "As you wish!" to a command that she gives him.The evil prince catches them and tricks Buttercup into returning with him to the castle and captures Wesley with plans to torture him because of the true love that he has for Buttercup. There is a wedding, sword fights, monsters, romance, and some really great lines being tossed around that can be useful in so many areas of life.The grandfather then closes the book and prepares to leave, but the boy asks him to read the story again the next day. The grandfather smiles and replies, "As you wish."

When my daughter saw this movie for the first time i could see the wheels turning in her little head. "I'm the princess" was what the look in her eyes said loud and clear and from the way that she was absorbed in the story I could tell that this story had just become her story.In the movie, the lead character, Buttercup would request all sort of things from the "farm Boy" Wesley, and to each request she would make of him, he would answer "As you wish". What the "as you wish" meant was really , "I love you".It did not take long for it to start at my house.

My daughter went to don her "princess dress" and would come up to me and say, "Farm boy, fetch me some cereal."Please understand what was happening. She was not suddenly being rude and disrespectful. She had just picked me to be her "farm boy"!I would respond with "as you wish" in a classic Wesley character accent and she would giggle with delight and scrunch up her nose each time that I would say it.This little game literally went on for hours. "Farm boy, help me brush my hair" or "Farm boy, read me a story", or "Farm boy, dance with me". To each request I would respond, "As you wish" in a classic Wesley character accent.Occasionally I would respond with a more traditional, "Yeah you betcha!" in a North New Jersey accent and she would quickly say, "No Daddy, you need to say As you wish, because every time the farm boy said that, what he was really saying to the princess was, I LOVE YOU!!!"And the game would continue. Farm boy requests followed by "as you wish" followed by a princess giggling and thinking up new requests.It is going to be a matter of time when this "farm boy" will be replaced by another "farm boy" and this "farm boy" may find that he woke up one day and had suddenly been recast as the villainous king in the story. The king that seeks to destroy the princess hope for "True love". But that day is a long way off and until that day comes, I will relish each "farm boy" request from my princess.

I guess that it just sort of hit me as we were playing this little game that it is very similar to our responses to the Holy Spirit in our life.He speaks, and we have the freedom as to how we will respond.We can choose to just pass His voice in our hearts off as "Just a random thought, or "wishful thinking" or we can look to Him and say, "As you wish!"Because in all seriousness, whenever we tell Him, "As you wish" isn't it the same as saying, "I love you?"It is the willing choice made to act on what has been requested that speaks the love.What has the Holy Spirit asked you to do?If we have the same Spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead, then what is it that He would ask that we could not do?Today i just want to challenge you with this passage."I can do ALL things THROUGH Christ which strengtheneth me." ~Philippians 4:13All things?We can do all the things that He asks us to do no matter how great or how small THROUGH Him!

God's will is like Christ. We live from His will, not for His will.

Does there really need to be a battle?

What ever He brushes your heart to accomplish with Him today, would you look up to Him and say (In a classic Wesley Accent), "As You Wish!"Because as it has been previously noted, every time you say, "AS YOU WISH", what you are in all actuality saying is, "I LOVE YOU."We are The Prince's Bride after all, are we not?Climbing with you,~Dan